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Файл:Let’s read!. Учебное пособие по чтению на английском языке
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Chinese restaurant. In the provinces, the choice is much smaller, and may be limited
to the local pub.
We should note that, as with many other questions, national consciouness is
little by little being awakened in the English even through questions of food.
Nowadays they are more and more forcefully reminding their countrymen that the
country achieved much in this field. Not long ago, special research was published
about English beef, in part in answer to the results of “mad cow disease” which made
this type of meat unpopular even at home. The book was written by an historian, for
the most part using historical material. The idea was simple: beef is the mainstay of
the English nature and the strength of the English comes from the fact that they
always ate good, natural food, such as roast beef, as opposed to the puny French who
spoiled themselves with various sauces and dressings. The author was cunning in the
way he linked many events in English history to the eating of beef.
The English even allow themselves to laugh at the holy grail of cooking, Italian
cuisine. Not long ago, information appeared on the internet that British historians had
found a fourteenth century manuscript which was England's (and possibly the
world's) oldest existing list of national recipes. It described a traditional English dish
named “lasagn”, which was made from so-called pasta with cheese sauce. This
allowed English experts to confirm that the true homeland of lasagne is England. In
reply to this scandalous claim, the official representatives of the Italian Embassy
immediately announced that “regardless of the name of this ancient dish, it is not
lasagne in the way we understand it.” The question is so serious that we can only
hope it does not lead to armed conflict. By the way, this is probably just one more of
those curious facts, and in any case, you cannot believe everything you read on the
Internet.
From the point of view of contemporary English culture, the story of one
young English star, Jamie Oliver, is particularly interesting and significant. In terms
of popularity in the country, he could easily rival pop stars and footballers. Jamie is a
chef. His television show is watched by a huge audience of all ages, his books have
an enormous print run, and in order to have a meal at his recently opened restaurant,
you have to book months in advance. His photos are everywhere in English papers
and magazines. He appears in adverts, just like other famous people, and is the hero
of high society stories. English society followed the development of his relationship
with his girlfriend with agitation, then they pored over his wedding photographs, the
one-year anniversary of their daughter Poppy was an “event” and now they are all
waiting with anticipation for the next addition to the family.
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The reasons for Jamie Oliver’s success, apart from good advertising, are that he
was in the right place at the right time. First of all, he is frightfully “English”. He was
born in 1975 and has been constantly on television screens for the last few years. Not
handsome but sweet, he looks like a collective portrait of English youth. He grew up
in the provinces (in Essex) and worked in his parents’ pub from childhood.
At first he used many techniques from Italian cuisine, in particular olive oil and
vegetables, since the English have a great respect for Italian cooking. But gradually
English items started to creep to the top of the list. Increasingly often he has made
patriotic appeals to use traditional English products, to recall traditional English
recipes, and to remember that the English have always been able to cook: nothing
fancy, of course, but tasty.
Now he is in other programmers as well, for example, “Oliver Twist”. Even the
title itself contains a clever pun. On the one hand, Oliver Twist is the title of the wellknown book by Charles Dickens, and on the other hand you could read it as Oliver's
dodges. The idea was simple and close to the hearts of the English (and not just
theirs). After a heavy night, a group of young, energetic people taken from different
types of restaurant, pub and bar go home to Jamie Oliver's for breakfast. They laugh
and joke lightly and in an unconstrained way while he prepares some explosive
hangover cure involving tomato juice, pepper and whatever else he can find.
After this he starts to prepare breakfast, which is naturally English and
traditional. In a lively way he cleans mushrooms, fries sausages and bacon, beats
eggs and makes toast. All this uncomplicated process is accompanied by a
commentary about how to cook bacon without burning it, how best to buy sausages,
which sauce to serve. Surprisingly, this simple process is rather captivating and
instructive as well: here are living English traditions, not being advertised by some
crumbly old grandmother but by a jolly young Englishman with his friends who eat
the lot at the end with enthusiastic cries. Jamie Oliver's work has been highly
acclaimed by the country too.
In the autumn of 2003 at a ceremony in Buckingham Palace, Queen Elizabeth
II personally awarded him a MBE (Member of the Order of the British Empire)
which is awarded to people in recognition of outstanding service to the nation. Jamie
Oliver, in turn, felt it his duty to show again his patriotic feelings and support the
monarchy. In an interview, he told journalists that he was so choked with emotion
that he almost cried. “I work abroad a lot and I am proud to sing our praises for what
we are good at here. Rolls-Royce, Aston Martin, they're all gone and this is all we've
got left, really,” he said with a glance around the Palace courtyard.
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Vocabulary:
neighbor — сосед
Asterix the Gaul — Астерикс Галл
mint sauce — мятный соус
heaven and hell — рай и ад
primary distinguishing — основное различие
inferiority — неполноценность
to deprecate — возражать
forcefully — насильно
mainstay — опора, основа
puny — хилый, жалкий, ничтожный
contemporary — современный
rival — соперник
pored over — изучено
anticipation — ожидание
to creep — ползти
pun — каламбур
dodge — уловка
unconstrained — непринужденный
Read the text again. Point out which sentences correspond to the content of
the text.
1. In the summer of 2003 at a ceremony in Buckingham Palace, Queen
Elizabeth II personally awarded Jamie Oliver a MBE.
2. The idea to give young people good English breakfast in Oliver’s home was
simple and close to the hearts of the English.
3. From the point of view of contemporary English culture, the story of one
young English star, Jamie Oliver, is not interesting and significant.
4. The primary distinguishing feature of English food is also its main problem:
its purpose is to satisfy hunger and not to provide pleasure.
5. There is the famous joke about the international contingents in heaven and
hell: in hell the chef is French.
6. National consciousness is little by little being awakened in the English even
through questions of food.
7. Everybody believed the story about the origin of lasagna read on the
Internet.
8. “Oliver Twist” is only the title of the well-known book by Charles Dickens.
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9. The book about English beef was written by an economist, for the most part
using statistics.
10. The English make a cult of food.
11. The English have little respect for Italian cooking.
12. English society followed the development of Jamie Oliver’s relationship
with his girlfriend with agitation.
13. Not long ago, information appeared on the internet that British historians
had found a fourteenth century manuscript which was England's (and possibly the
world's) oldest existing list of national recipes.
14. The English always make fun of French cuisine.
Answer the questions:
1. What do the neighbors from the Continent never tire of?
2. What episode do popular French comics contain?
3. Who was famous for eating a lot of food?
4. Why cannot Obelix cope with English food?
5. What is the famous joke about the international contingents in heaven and hell?
6. What do the English themselves have about their cuisine?
7. Where do English friends invite their guests to lunch?
8. What is the English reminding their countrymen nowadays?
9. Why was the book about the English beef written?
10. What was the simple idea of this book?
11. What kind of material was used in this book?
12. Why do the English allow themselves to laugh at Italian cuisine?
13. What kind of information appeared on the internet?
14. What is Jamie Oliver?
15. Why is he a success?
16. How did English items start to creep to the top of the list?
17. What Oliver’s idea was close to the hearts of the English?
18. What kind of breakfast does Oliver prefer to prepare?
19. What happened in the autumn of 2003?
20. What did he tell journalists in his interview?
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Text 3
RUSSIAN AND ENGLISH MEALS
Living in Russia one cannot but stick to a Russian diet. Keeping this diet for an
Englishman is fatal. And the Russians have meals four times a day and their cuisine
is quite intricate.
Every person starts his or her day with breakfast. Poor Englishmen are
sentenced to either a continental or an English breakfast. From the Russian point of
view, when one has it continental it actually means that one has no breakfast at all,
because it means drinking a cup of coffee and eating a bun. A month of continental
breakfast for some Russians would mean starving. The English breakfast is a bit
better, as it consists of one or two fried eggs, grilled sausages, bacon, tomatoes and
mushrooms. The English have tea with milk and toast with butter and marmalade. As
a choice one may have corn flakes with milk and sugar or porridge.
In Russia people may have anything for breakfast. Some good-humored
individuals even prefer soup, but, of course, sandwiches and coffee are very popular.
One can easily understand that in Great Britain by one o’clock people are very much
ready for lunch. Lunch is the biggest meal of the day. That would be music for
Russian ears until he or she learns that lunch really consists of. It may be a meat or
fish course with soft drinks followed by a sweet course.
The heart of a Russian person fills with joy when the hands of the clock
approach three o’clock. His or her dinner includes three courses. A Russian will have
a starter (salad, herring, cheese, etc.), soup, steaks, chops or fish fillets with garnish, a
lot of bread, of course, and something to drink. The more the better. At four or five
the Russians may have a bite: waffles, cakes with juice, tea, cocoa, or something of
the kind.
In Great Britain they have dinner at five or six. Soup may be served then, but
one should not be misled by the word “soup”. British soup is just thin paste and a
portion is three times smaller than in Russia. A lot of British prefer to eat out. “Fish
and Chips” shops are very popular with their take-away food. The more sophisticated
public goes to Chinese, Italian, seafood restaurants and experiment with shrimp,
inedible vegetables and hot drinks.
Supper in Russia means one more big meal at seven. The table groans with
food again. In England it is just a small snack — a glass of milk with biscuits at ten.
Most Russians have never counted calories and they are deeply convinced that
their food is healthy. Some housewives may admit that it takes some time to prepare
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all the staff, including pickles, home-made preserves and traditional Russian pies and
pancakes. But they don’t seem to mind too much and boil, roast, grill, broil, bake and
make. Paraphrasing a famous proverb one can say: “What is a Russian man’s meat is
a British man’s poison”.
Vocabulary:
fatal — роковой
intricate — сложный, замысловатый
garnish — гарнир
sophisticated — изощренный, сложный
shrimp — креветка
inedible — несъедобный
to groan — стонать
convinced — убежденный
pickles — соленья
Find English equivalents for the following words and word-combinations.
Придерживаться диеты, голодать, блюдо, подавать, вводить в заблуж-
дение, жидкий, порция, есть вне дома, утонченная публика, экспериментировать с чем-либо, подсчитывать калории, быть убежденным, соленья, домашние заготовки, варить, жарить, жарить на решетке, жарить на открытом
огне, испечь.
Answer the questions:
1. How will an Englishman feel if he keeps a Russian diet?
2. What two types of breakfast do British people eat?
3. Which of them is more substantial?
4. What do Russian people have for breakfast?
5. When do English people have their lunch?
6. Does English dinner differ from Russian dinner?
7. Why can Russian people be misled by the word “soup”?
8. What types of restaurants are popular in Great Britain?
9. Is English supper similar to Russian supper?
10. What do Russian people think about the food they eat?
11. Are Russian housewives willing or reluctant to cook for their families?
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UNIT 6. SHOPPING
Text 1
SHOPPING (1)
When we want to buy something, we go to a shop. There are many kinds of
shops in every town or city, but most of them have a food supermarket, a department
store, men's and women's clothing stores, grocery, a bakery and a butchery.
I like to do my shopping at big department stores and supermarkets. They sell
various goods under one roof and this is very convenient. A department store, for
example, true to its name, is composed of many departments: readymade clothes,
fabrics, shoes, sports goods, toys, china and glass, electric appliances, cosmetics,
linen, curtains, cameras, records, etc. You can buy everything you like there.
There are also escalators in big stores which take customers to different floors.
The things for sale are on the counters so that they can be easily seen. In the women's
clothing department you can find dresses, costumes, blouses, skirts, coats, beautiful
underwear and many other things. In the men's clothing department you can choose
suits, trousers, overcoats, ties, etc.
In the knitwear department one can buy sweaters, cardigans, short-sleeved and
long-sleeved pullovers, woolen jackets. In the perfumery they sell face cream and
powder, lipstick, lotions and shampoos.
In a food supermarket we can also buy many different things at once: sausages,
fish, sugar, macaroni, flour, cereals, tea. At the butcher's there is a wide choice of
meat and poultry. At the bakery you buy brown and white bread, rolls, biscuits.
Another shop we frequently go to is the greengrocery which is stocked by
cabbage, potatoes, onions, cucumbers, carrots, beetroots, green peas and what not.
Everything is sold here ready-weighed and packed. If you call round at a dairy you
can buy milk, cream, cheese, butter and many other products.
The methods of shopping may vary. It may be a self-service shop where the
customer goes from counter to counter selecting and putting into a basket what he
wishes to buy. Then he takes the basket to the check-out counter, where the prices of
the purchases are added up. If it is not a self-service shop, and most small shops are
not, the shop-assistant helps the customer in finding what he wants. You pay money
to the cashier and he gives you back the change.
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Vocabulary:
shop (Br.) — магазин
store (Am.) — магазин
to open — открывать (ся)
bookshop — книжный магазин
to choose (chose, chosen) — выбирать
clothes — одежда
department — отдел
department store — универсальный магазин
dress — платье
to try — мерить
fitting room — примерочная
cashier's desk — касса
aisle — проход (между рядами, стойками и т. д.)
size — размер
tight — тесный
a bit tight — немного тесно
much better — намного лучше
pair — пара
Answer the questions:
1. When do we go to a shop?
2. What can we buy in big department stores?
3. What can we buy in a food supermarket?
4. Which methods of shopping do we have?
5. How can we pay?
Text 2
SHOPPING (2)
When we want to buy something, we go to a shop. The shop assistant shows
the customer various goods and sells them. We pay at the cash-desk. The goods can
be wrapped up or packed in a box or parcel.
No one in our family goes shopping as often as my mother does. She keeps
house, so she knows better than anyone of us what we are running short of.
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From time to time my father goes and does some shopping too. Most often he
goes for fruits, vegetables, fresh greens or fish to the district's market. Usually, he has
a shopping list written by my mother with him.
The prices in our district's market are generally lower than in the state-owned
or private shops, but the quality of goods is not always better. If the price doesn't suit
you, you can argue about it with the seller and ask for a cut.
My duty is to buy bread for the family. So each time we are running out of
bread, I take a shopping bag and money and hurry to the nearest bakery.
When we want to buy food we go to the food store, where you can find almost
everything you want.
The grocer sells a variety of foodstuffs, such as flour, butter, eggs, biscuits,
jams and jellies, cheese, sugar, spice, tinned and frozen foods.
The greengrocer deals in fruit and vegetable.
The florist sells flowers and plants.
We go to the fishmonger for fish.
We go to the butcher's to buy some kinds of meat: pork, veal, mutton or beef
and we can buy some poultry there as well: chickens, ducks, geese or turkeys.
A milk shop is called a dairy. There we buy dairy products: milk, butter,
cheese, cream.
When we run out of bread we go to the bakers and ask for a loaf of white or
brown bread.
A cake shop sells pastries and cakes of all kinds. The confectioner always does
a good trade selling sweets, chocolates, chocolate bars, toffees and other tempting
things that make every child's mouth water.
Many large shops called department stores sell various goods under one roof
and you can find there everything you need.
Department stores have a lot of departments: stationery, hosiery, millinery,
footwear, sport goods, leather goods, perfumery, jewelry, ready-made women's and
men's clothes. All the things are on the counters and in the shop windows so the
customers can choose what they want.
At the stationery we buy paper, ink, pens, ball-pens, pencils, erasers and felt-tip
pens.
In the millinery we buy hats, caps.
In the shoe or footwear department there are many kinds of shoes, boots,
sandals, slippers and top-boots.
In the knitwear department we can find all kinds of knitted goods: pullovers,
sweaters, cardigans, etc.
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If we want new gloves or ties, handkerchiefs or shirts we go to the men's
outfitters.
In the men's clothing department you can choose suits, trousers, overcoats, ties,
etc. In the knitwear department one can buy sweaters, short-sleeved and long-sleeved
pullovers, woolen jackets and other clothing for men.
In the women's clothing department we can choose coats, jackets, dresses,
costumes, jumpers, blouses, skirts, underwear and many other things for women.
In the perfumery they have face creams and face powders, lipsticks, scents,
lotions and shampoos.
A big store is really a very interesting place. We can simply walk round the
store without buying anything at all.
Vocabulary:
assistant — помощник
customer — клиент
price — цена
bakery — пекарня, булочная
grocer — бакалейщик
foodstuffs — продукты питания
greengrocer — зеленщик
fishmonger — торговец рыбой
butcher's — мясная лавка
dairy — молочный
confectioner — кондитер
stationery — канцелярские товары
millinery — магазин головных уборов
footwear department — обувной отдел
slippers — тапочки
knitwear department — трикотажный отдел
face powder — пудра
lipstick — губная помада
scent — аромат
lotions — лосьон
Answer the questions:
1. What does the shop assistant do?
2. Who goes shopping in your family?
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